


The Clouds Would Clear Tomorrow

by teletou



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-20
Updated: 2016-07-20
Packaged: 2018-07-25 15:43:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7538500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teletou/pseuds/teletou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He hears another set of footsteps soon after, a soft rumbling under his toes. He hears the curtain flutter behind him, the sound of someone clicking their tongue. A brush of hands against fabric, someone patting down their trousers.</p><p>  <i>It’s good that Nagisa’s actually making a move to go to class.</i></p><p>His hand leaves the door handle. He doesn’t much think of the feather-light touch over his fingers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Clouds Would Clear Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [InkWitch (serkestic)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/serkestic/gifts).



> This was supposed to be serkestic's birthday fic along with the other MakoRin February Babies, but here we are -- four months later. Happy Four to Five Months After Your Birthdays, guys! ilu

"I'm sorry," Natsuya says. "We couldn't get any new members."  
  
Makoto shuffles his feet, scuffs the sides of his shoes together. The ground is dry under his soles, tinted grey, echoing the sky.  
  
"It's okay," Makoto whispers to his toes, slow, eyes tracing the subtle bumps of interweaving roots. "I'll be okay."  
  
"Are you going to be lonely?" Nao asks, just as soft.  
  
He looks up, just the slightest bit, not to their eyes, stops at the flower corsage pinned onto their breast pockets. His fingers finds a loose thread at the hem of his blazer. He twines it around a finger, once, twice. The thread feels sharp on his skin, and he breathes – long, winded.  
  
"Don't worry about me, Nao-senpai." His nails dig into his palms, through the loose thread and the material of his blazer. "It doesn't have to be swimming. I can always join another club."  
  
"Maybe you can finally take Shigino up for that basketball club thing." Natsuya laughs, light and airy. Makoto feels the beginnings of a smile tug on the corners of his lips.  
  
"Yeah." His shoulders feel lighter, when he raises his head. Natsuya and Nao looks at him with a pair of fond smiles, reassuring, like they've always been.  
  
"Go on!" Natsuya sends him off with a cheeky grin and ruffle of his hair – he has to tiptoe a little to reach the top of Makoto's head now, so Makoto tilts his head down to an appropriate height for receiving headpats. "Say your goodbyes to the other club members."  
  
Makoto tries to hide the warmth in his cheeks by ducking his head, remembers that he isn't wearing a stand-up collar gakuran when he realises the absence of a brush of cotton against his chin.  
  
"Right," he can't help but chuckle. "Good luck, senpai! We'll meet again someday, I'm sure!"

  
  
\----

  
  
Still, spring comes with quiet murmurs. Makoto walks through his school gates as a second year student, softly returning morning greetings from his classmates as they rush by – into a mass of colourful signs, cheerful voices, students in crowds.

“ _Good morning!”_

“ _Hey, what about you join the–”_

“ _The Classics Literature Club is now accepting–”_

“Morning, Tachibana!” Mochizuki says, clapping his shoulder.

“Ah, good morning, Mochizuki-kun!” Makoto greets back with a smile.

Mochizuki stumbles as he falls in-step with Makoto, knocking their shoulders together. “You’re not trying to recruit members?” he asks softly, tilting his head. “The swim club doesn’t _have_ to be dissolved you know...”

“I wonder...” Makoto remembers his first year – how Natsuya pretty much hugged him and twirled him around the moment he sees Makoto holding a club application form. They didn’t have any second year members at the time; all the remaining third years were going to graduate. Makoto was probably what kept the club running that year. “It feels like this has been a long time coming though, so...” he says, trailing off into soft chuckles.

“Humm...” Mochizuki nods, then turns to face forward with a bright smile. “Well, if you ever want to join the basketball club! Shigino’s been saying that this year is the year he’ll finally get you.”

“Terrifying.” The reply was flat, instantaneous. Makoto lets a wry smile onto his face.

“Don’t be like that, he’d be heart broken!” Mochizuki is clutching his stomach in laughter, though, so he couldn’t have felt _that_ bad.

Three steps, the school lobby one more step away, Mochizuki’s toes knocks into the raised floor and he suddenly freezes, pure horror spiralling in his eyes. “...I forgot I have class duty today.”

“You...” Makoto whispers, grave, knowing the sheer magnitude of Mochizuki’s sin. They stare at each other, past an eternity, hushed dread in the midst of a cheerful Wednesday morning. “Should… go apologise to Ninomae-san…” Makoto wonders what Mochizuki did in his past life that landed him class duty with the demon class representative.

Mochizuki squeaks, makes a dash for his shoe locker, probably bagging the world record for fastest shoe change before running up the stairs.

“On your knees! For good measure!” Makoto shouts after him, praying from the very depths of his heart for the safety of his good friend.

Knowing the Gates of Hell will soon open, he probably doesn’t want to be anywhere near the second year hallway right now. Makoto stares out into space, a serene expression on his face, bathing in the light that streams through the windows opposite him.

 _Well,_ he thinks, peaceful, as easy as the way his indoor shoes slip over his heel. _Time to go check out some club posters._

 

\----

 

His first warning was a cheerful voice, one that sounds familiar, from years back – _maybe he’s just imagining things._

Then comes a tuft of straw-blond hair, soft curls bouncing as he turns. Bright, bright eyes widen – in the two seconds both of them stayed locked in place, realisation bubbling between them. Makoto’s lips part, the very first breath of a name passes through–

“ _Mako-chan_!”

A storm of fliers explodes around them, Makoto feels a soft thump to his chest, nuzzling into his shirt. From behind colourful fonts, a mess of shapes, a leaf of printed paper falls in front of him, and lands on the top of his old friend’s head.

“Nagisa!” Just like before, pleasantly surprised. Only, his voice a tad lower, this time.

“I miss you so much! I was wondering when I could see you!” His voice hasn’t changed much, bubbling sunshine, warm and cheery. Makoto misses this.

“If you knew I was here, you could’ve visited my class!” He laughs. Makoto wouldn’t put it past Nagisa to somehow look him up and which class he’s in.

“Oh!” Nagisa perks up, releases Makoto from his hug with a jump backwards. “About that! I was busy setting this up!” He reaches for the flier on his head, and shoves it to Makoto’s face. Makoto has to take hold of Nagisa’s hands and pushes them backwards a little to see clearly what was written on them.

“‘ _Unofficial’_ Sci-fi club?” Makoto tilts his head, confused.

“Don’t call it unofficial!” Nagisa puffs out his cheeks, looks up at Makoto thoroughly offended.

“It’s written on it, though?”

“It’s a branch of the Physics Club!”

“I… don’t think that means anything...” A beat of thought, Makoto blinks. Once. Twice, and then once more. “Wait, are you actually allowed to recruit people like this–”

“ _Hazuki!_ ”

“ _Run–_ ”

 

\----

 

“The first thing you do–” _Pant._ “–after _four years of not seeing you_ –” _Pant. Pant. “_ Is turn into a renegade student with an illegal club.” Somehow, Makoto isn’t really all that surprised. It’s more the principle of the thing. “Nagisa, _why._ ”

“Teehee.” _Well, someone's_ _having fun._

 

_\----_

 

They somehow ended up in a dusty classroom in the old building, hiding behind overturned chairs, behind faded curtains. Makoto looks up, to the gap between fluttering cloth and the windowsill. He could see the sky, just a little bit. The sky is really blue today. Nice weather, too. Perfect Mochizuki napping weather.

_Although he probably wouldn’t dare sleep in class after earlier._

He sighs. Class is probably going to start soon. And yet, here he is, not even two weeks into the new school year, hiding in an old classroom with an old friend. He certainly _feels_ old right now – an age somewhere between Harried Mother and Exasperated Grandpa.

His bento is probably all messed up too, from all that running. Just when his mother made him egg-stuffed aubergines and sweet egg rolls. He was really looking forward to eating them later.

“This is our clubroom, by the way.” Nagisa whispers. “It’s right across the actual Physics Club clubroom. They haven’t used this one for years, though.”

“Ah...”

“I’ll introduce you to Rei-chan later, too.”

Makoto wishes he’d introduce a way out more. He really doesn’t want to be late to Achiwa-sensei’s class, but he can’t really just up and leave Nagisa either. “Rei-chan…?”

“Ryuugazaki Rei-chan! He’s in the Physics Club and we’re in the same class! He’s like a ghost member and the main link to the main branch”

“I don’t think–”

The morning bell rings, and Makoto’s heart sinks. _Well, then._ He stands, dejected, a sigh matching his heavy footsteps. _Time to stand in the hallway while Mochizuki makes faces at the back of my head through the window._

He opens the sliding door and walks through the doorframe accompanied by the fanfare of Nagisa’s ‘ _boo’s_ and _‘ehhh’s_ along with a sprinkling of _‘Mako-channn’s._

He hears another set of footsteps soon after, a soft rumbling under his toes. He hears the curtain flutter behind him, the sound of someone clicking their tongue. A brush of hands against fabric, someone patting down their trousers.

 _It’s good that Nagisa’s actually_ _making a move to go to class._

His hand leaves the handle. He doesn’t think much of the feather-light touch over his fingers.

 

_\----_

 

Makoto spends the rest of first period in the hallway, his back against the windowof his classroom. He hears Achiwa-sensei recite today’s lesson on Japanese History, his voice muffled murmurs through the glass.

He raises a foot, watches its shadow grow faint, edges blurred grey. He puts that foot down, hiding the tip of its shadow under the toe of his shoes. He raises the other, holds his heel three centimetres above the floor.

‘ _I wonder how Natsuya-senpai and Nao-senpai are doing?’_

A bird’s shadow cuts through the tiles, across the top of his foot.

‘ _Is university life treating them well?’_

At least the windows opposite him are open. The slight breeze feels nice.

‘ _I wonder when can I see them again?’_

The wall beside him rumbles slightly, with the door sliding open. Achiwa-sensei pops his head out from between the gap, glares at him through his glasses.

“I hope you’re thinking about what you did and not daydreaming, Tachibana-kun.”

Makoto looks away from the sky behind the window frame to Achiwa-sensei’s disapproving frown. He pauses, a fraction of a second, at the sight of the empty hallway stretched out in front of him.

“Yes, sir.”

 

_\----_

 

“Ryuugazaki Rei-kun?” Makoto asks to the bespectacled first year in front of him.

“Tachibana Makoto-senpai?” He pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his hand blocking the bottom half of his face the same way he’s blocking the old classroom door. “Nagisa-kun told me that you’d be here.”

“Yeah… where is he, though?” He looks behind Rei’s shoulders, tries to find Nagisa hiding under one of the table inside.

“Nagisa-kun...” Rei sighs, long, winded. “Has been called to the Faculty Room.”

“Oh...” _Does that mean I can go home?_ It’s not like he intended to join the Physics and/or Sci-Fi Club. At the very least, he wanted to walk home together with Nagisa, but…

“He told me he wouldn’t be very long.” Rei says. “But I must apologise. I have club activities to attend to. You’re free to wait for him here, Senpai. Though I’d rather you just leave him. That boy, _honestly._ ” He walks, swift – with all the grace of a poised, albeit distressed mother figure – around Makoto and across the hall to the opposite classroom.

Makoto watches the door close behind Rei, and sighs. It’s not like he has anything else to do. Ran and Ren have a play date with their friends and will be home late. Mochizuki probably has work courtesy of Ninomae-san to make up for skipping this morning.

_Eh, might as well wait._

 

\----

 

Now that he has settled himself on a desk in the front row, he realises just how _scary_ abandoned classrooms are. He shivers, thinking of the long, inky shadows stretching across the floor. The sun’s already hanging low in the sky. Dark and orange, an eerie haze painted across the walls.

He hears a whisper, faint – someone’s name, maybe. He’s better off not thinking about it. The window’s open. The Baseball Club is practising some ways away from this building. Surely Rei has a scientific explanation to how their shouts could sound like they come from inside this room! He’ll have to ask him later.

‘ _I’m tellin–’_

‘ _I felt–!’_

‘– _y fingers–’_

He jumps, at the sound of a harsh stomp. He follows the sound, to somewhere behind the teacher’s desk, hoping, _hoping,_ that something just fell down–

_Nothing._

He pales, squeaks when he sees a flutter of red at the corner of his eye. The curtains billows inwards from the wind, brushes across his shoulders.

Someone laughs, softer than the first voice, and Makoto just has had _about enough–_

He hears the door slide close – after two beats of an angry stomp. He’s scared to look– look back to see that–

_The door is still open._

Makoto bolts upright, knocks down a few chairs off their spot on top of the tables and stubs his toe approximately ten thousand times against everything that stood between him and getting out of his haunted classroom.

_Should he tell a teacher about this? Will they call an exorcist?_

Power walking across the hall and going down the stairs two steps at a time, Makoto tries to think of an excuse to sleep together with the twins tonight that won’t end up with him getting laughed at.

The first thing he’s going to do when he reaches the safety of his house is hide. And maybe cry for a bit. The twins are going to laugh at him either way, so might as well just come clean. _‘Hey, guys, Onii-chan saw a ghost at school today, do you mind keeping him company for the night?’_

He’ll feel infinitely safer with Ran and her pool noodle sword protecting him, at least. Ran laughing herself to sleep is but a small price to pay for a primary school-aged bodyguard against the supernatural.

**Author's Note:**

> This, along with dreamfic, will be part of my proud collection of "a chapter a birthday and even then it's half a year late" wip fics. I am a fucking winner.


End file.
